Gerry Handley faced years of blatant race-based harassment before he filed a complaint against his employer: racist jokes, signs reading “KKK” in his work area, and even questions from coworkers as to
Congress is crippled by ideological conflict. The political parties are more polarized today than at any time since the Civil War. Americans disagree, fiercely, about just about everything, from terro
For long-time residents of Washington, D.C.’s Shaw/U Street, the neighborhood has become almost unrecognizable in recent years. Where the city’s most infamous open-air drug market once stood, a farmer
Osman, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, had a dream in which a tree sprouted from his navel. As the tree grew, its shade covered the earth; as Osman’s empire grew, it too covered the earth. This is
Over the past thirty years, the world’s patent systems have experienced civil society pressure like never before. From farmers to patient advocates, new voices are arguing that patents impact public h
From neighborhoods as big as Chelsea or the Castro, to places only as big as the a club like The Shamrock in Madison or Sidewinders in Albuquerque, gay areas are becoming normal. Straight people flood
On September 25, 1890, the fourth Mormon prophet, Wilford Woodruff, publicly instructed his followers to abandon polygamy. In doing so, he initiated a process that would fundamentally alter the Latter
Over forty years ago, when Piers Vitebsky first conducted ethnographic fieldwork among them, the Sora, a tribal group that lives in the highland jungles of southeastern India practiced a highly advanc
Darkness has a history and a uniquely modern form. Distinct from electrification, nightlife, and artificial light, “artificial darkness” has remained entirely overlooked until now. But controlled dark
Ethnography centers on the culture of everyday life. So it is ironic that most scholars who do research on the intimate experiences of ordinary people write their books in a style that those people ca
“I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students. . . . We must understand and circumvent this dangerou
While successful plays tend to share certain storytelling elements, there is no single blueprint for how a play should be constructed. Instead, seasoned playwrights know how to select the right elemen
Thomas S. Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions was a watershed event when it was published in 1962, upending the previous understanding of science as a slow, logical accumulation of facts an
Since the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin has been seen as ground zero for debates about the appropriate role of government in the wake of the Great Recession. In a time of rising inequality, Walk
What makes for a good life, or a beautiful one, or, perhaps most important, a meaningful one? Throughout history most of us have looked to our faith, our relationships, or our deeds for the answer. Bu
In Abductive Analysis, Iddo Tavory and Stefan Timmermans provide a new navigational map for theorizing qualitative research. They outline a way to think about observations, methods, and theories that
Whereas twelfth-century pilgrims flocked to the church of St-Lazare in Autun to visit the relics of its patron saint, present-day pilgrims journey there to admire its superb sculpture, said to have be
Remember dimpled chads? Following the 2000 general election, when the controversy surrounding a confusing ballot layout brought the process of election design to the forefront of national attention, a
Since 1914, the Round Tower at Windsor Castle has been home to the Royal Archives, an extraordinary collection of documents dating back to the thirteenth century. To commemorate the hundredth annivers
James D. McCawley was not only, as William Safire once wrote, "the only man in linguistics whose reputation challenges Noam Chomsky's"—he was also an inspiring accumulator of knowledge of every kind,
James D. McCawley was not only, as William Safire once wrote, "the only man in linguistics whose reputation challenges Noam Chomsky's"—he was also an inspiring accumulator of knowledge of every kind,
Art for art's sake. Art created in pursuit of personal expression. In Art in an Age of Counterrevolution, Albert Boime rejects these popular modern notions and suggests that history—not internal drive
In addition to his groundbreaking contributions to pure economic theory, F. A. Hayek also closely examined the ways in which the knowledge of many individual market participants could culminate in an
In 2011, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1973, authorizing its member states to take measures to protect Libyan civilians from Muammar Gadhafi’s forces. In invoking the “respons
In 1903, a young woman sailed from India to Guiana as a “coolie”—the British name for indentured laborers who replaced the newly emancipated slaves on sugar plantations all around the world. Pregnant
A smart account of a defining moment in African American contemporary art. The early 1990s were a game changer for black artists. Many rose prominently to lead the field of advanced art more general
Centuries after his death, al-Ghazali remains one of the most influential figures of the Islamic intellectual tradition. Although he is best known for his Incoherence of the Philosophers, Moderation i
Admirably clear, concise, down-to-earth, and powerful—all too often, legal writing embodies none of these qualities. Its reputation for obscurity and needless legalese is widespread. Since 2001 Bryan
In the 1960s, many believed that the civil rights movement’s successes would foster a new era of racial equality in America. Four decades later, the degree of racial inequality has barely changed. To
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Roman scholar Censorinus bestowed upon his best friend a charming birthday present: The Birthday Book, which appears here in its long-awaited first English translation. Lay
Anthony C. Yu’s translation of The Journey to the West,initially published in 1983, introduced English-speaking audiences to the classic Chinese novel in its entirety for the first time. Written in th
Anthony C. Yu’s translation of The Journey to the West,initially published in 1983, introduced English-speaking audiences to the classic Chinese novel in its entirety for the first time. Written in th
China’s economic boom over the last two decades has taken many analysts by surprise, given the ongoing role of central government planning. Its current growth trajectory suggests that the size of its
Throughout its long history, Japan had no concept of what we call “religion.” There was no corresponding Japanese word, nor anything close to its meaning. But when American warships appeared off the c
We commonly think of the American Revolution as simply the war for independence from British colonial rule. But, of course, that independence actually applied to only a portion of the American populat
A radical thinker and philanthropic employer, Robert Owen (1771–1858) made major contributions to nineteenth-century social movements. Owen organized cooperatives and trade unions, pioneered new appr
Technology permeates nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Cars enable us to travel long distances, mobile phones help us to communicate, and medical devices make it possible to detect and cure dise
For many, a map is nothing more than a tool used to determine the location or distribution of something—a country, a city, or a natural resource. But maps reveal much more: to really read a map means
Grammatical Framework is a programming language designed for writing grammars, which has the capability of addressing several languages in parallel. This thorough introduction demonstrates how to writ
